The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to automated machinery used to cut various materials, and is more particularly directed to a system for cutting material and forming composite parts.
Manufacturing composite parts traditionally occurs by cutting individual pieces of material from large rolls and assembling the composite part by arranging the pieces in a specific configuration to create a desired part or component. The pieces can be bonded together to form a laminate with multiple laminated layers. This composite part may be custom-engineered to have specific mechanical properties appropriate for its intended use.
For certain parts or components, instrumentation or other devices to obtain diagnostic information is desired to acquire performance information from the parts or components when used in operation. Instrumentation placement on the parts or components is usually accomplished by hand, which is labor intensive and time consuming. Correct placement of instrumentation, for example, fiber optic filaments, is challenging due to the fragility of the instrumentation, the shape of the piece of material, a desired instrumentation layout on the piece of material and difficulty maintaining adhesion to the piece of material. Moreover, because the instrumentation is most often laying on the piece of material, positioning of the piece of material in the mold or actual operation of the composite part can damage the instrumentation. Hand placement of instrumentation can be problematic because the instrumentation is difficult to handle, and it can be damaged or misaligned.